DIY Vacation Savings Jar

DIY Vacation Savings Jar

I don’t know about you, but I hate to carry change around with me.  As soon as I get home, whatever change I have accumulated throughout the day is discarded on the table, on a counter, or on my dresser.  While each day’s change is a small amount, it all adds up!  So, why not add all that change together to put toward the vacation fund?  Enter the Vacation Savings Jar!

Welcome to this month’s Blogorail Yellow Loop.  Today our loop is sharing Disney DIY projects.  As part of the loop, I’m sharing my DIY Vacation Savings Jar!

The kids and I headed over to our local craft place (Crafter Hours).  I had seen a jar craft on a previous visit, so I asked if I could customize the wording to suit a vacation savings jar.  They said it was no problem, so I went about choosing some items to decorate my art work. 

We are cruising for our major vacation this year, so I decided to go with more of a beach-y and cruise look for my craft.  Instead of the paint, I decided to stain the wood to bring out some of the wood grain.

Soon, my stain was on, and I was trying to dry the stain in order to move on to the next step.

Next, I cut out some trim that I wanted to go on the bottom of my project.

While I worked on staining and cutting my trim, the owner cut out my letter choices on her Cricut.  I was able to find some paper with anchors on it in all the paper choices.  The owner definitely has a LOT of paper choices!  It’s a little hard to tell from this picture, but the word “fund” has some streaks of gold in it.  

After the stain was dry and all the lettering was ready, I placed everything on the wood to make sure I had everything in the right place before using Mod Podge to glue the lettering down.

First, I glued the decorative strip along the bottom.  Then, I glued the word “fund” down as all the letters were welded together.  “Vacation” was another story…  Since I didn’t want to cover up one of the knots in the wood, I decided to stagger the letters of “vacation”.  Then, I had to glue each individual letter down.

After everything was glued down, I covered the entire plaque  in a coating of Mod Podge.

Then, I used the blow dryer to dry the Mod Podge.  I needed the Mod Podge dry before going home because I needed to add the clamp for the jar.

Now, the design that this was based on was meant to be hung on the wall.  I personally think that a jar of coins is too heavy to hang on a wall with a nail.  I plan on putting my project on a picture stand/easel, so that the weight of the coins is leaning back on the stand.  Another option would have been to put the jar all the way down flush with the bottom of the wood.

Do you save your change for vacation?  If so, what do you use to collect it?

Here is the map of our Blogorail Yellow | Disney DIY

• 1st Stop – Love Our Crazy Life | Make Your Own Disneyland Hotel Headboard
• 2nd Stop – Monorails and Magic | Easy DIY Beaded Earrings Inspired by Disney’s Moana
• 3rd Stop – This Roller Coaster Called Life | Disney Vacation Savings Jar
• 4th Stop – My Favorite Finds | DIY Disney Paint Chip Countdown
• 5th Stop – Disney Mamas | How to Make Your Own Reusable Countdown Calendar